A Playwright’s Later Years, Rowdy and Dissolute

The alcoholic dimming of a literary light is rendered in “Brendan at the Chelsea,” a fascinating if fanciful account of the late life of Brendan Behan, now at the Acorn Theater. Behan — the Irish poet, short-story writer, novelist, memoirist and playwright, who died of complications from alcoholism in 1964 — lived at the Chelsea Hotel in the early 1960s, after the New York premiere of his play “The Hostage.”

“Brendan at the Chelsea,” written by Behan’s niece Janet Behan and produced by the Lyric Theater in Belfast, depicts a bedraggled Behan (Adrian Dunbar) hounded by an unseen agent about a book he has barely begun; tended by a minder, Lianne (Samantha Pearl), who vainly struggles to keep him sober; befriended by the composer and Chelsea resident George Kleinsinger (Richard Orr), who encourages him to seek treatment; and confronted by his pregnant, no-nonsense wife, Beatrice (Pauline Hutton), visiting from Dublin and alarmed by reports that he has a mistress and wants a divorce.

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Adrian Dunbar in the Lyric Theater of Belfast production of "Brendan at the Chelsea."CreditSteffan Hill

The play conflates Behan’s Chelsea stay with his earlier periods at the New York hotels the Bristol and the Algonquin (both of which later barred him), and establishes Behan’s bisexuality by imagining a male lover (Chris Robinson) and a visit to a Fire Island gay enclave. We see a Behan promiscuous and dissolute, literary but not political: His republican past (aside from a reference to him as an “ex-revolutionary”) is ignored, as are his detentions as a youth in Britain for I.R.A. activities, which informed his 1958 memoir, “Borstal Boy.” (He later renounced violence, but I.R.A. members were his pallbearers.)

The supporting players, inhabiting multiple roles, are often a bit broad when playing Americans. But the set and costumes, by Stuart Marshall, and the lighting design, by James C McFetridge, are vividly evocative.

And in the title role, Mr. Dunbar, who also directed, exudes a feckless, erratic and spellbinding charisma. Mr. Dunbar, who originated the role in 2008, is alternately charming and scathingly abusive; his Behan is quick with a one-liner (the play liberally quotes Behan) and yet painfully aware of his trembling hand and hopeless addiction. His performance alone makes “Brendan at the Chelsea” a must.